2012 In addition to long hours in the recording studio working on their fourth album the group also found time for a performance at the Olympic Stadium in the run-up to the 2012 Games.

The year also saw performances at Wembley Stadium for the Rugby League Cup final, the group's first play-listed song on BBC Radio 2 ("So Happy"), tours to Indonesia and Trinidad & Tobago plus the launch of their first Asia-only album.

"To the Sun" was released in November and debuted live in Trafalgar Square as the anthem for the launch of the Walking with the Wounded South Pole challenge in the presence of Prince Harry.

Blake are also ambassadors for certain charities, which include, amongst others, Cancer Research, The War Widows Association, The World Wildlife Fund, Clic Sargent, The Prince's Trust, Variety (The Children's Charity), MIND, Starlight, The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes.

The band continue to do much work for military charities, performing at the opening of the Bomber Command Memorial in London for the Queen and 5,000 veterans in the summer of 2012.

In June 2020 Blake will be performing a concert in aid of The Rose Berney Memorial Fund, at Bracon Hall, Norfolk.

Bowman was born in the city of Bath to an opera trained mother and a rock guitar playing father, who both tried their best to interest a young Stephen in their preferred genres.

Accepting the chance to audition for a place in the school's chapel choir, Stephen started training as a baritone with vocal coach Rachel Bevan.

Whilst developing as a young classical singer, Stephen was then pulled towards blues and rock music, joining bands in the Bath area.

After this project, Stephen decided to move back to Bath to take a sidestep into the world of computing & marketing (indulging his openly geeky side) whilst continuing to write songs and record music in the evenings.

In 2005 he finished a collection of songs with the help and guidance of previous members of Bath synth-pop group Tears for Fears.

Stephen continued to write and perform whilst building up his own marketing company, before bumping into Ollie Baines in early 2007.

After graduating, Tighe was acting for two years, working with Alan Ayckbourn, Edward Hall and Kevin Spacey, among others.

Following numerous television appearances, and singing at venues as diverse as Twickenham Stadium and Waterloo railway station, the group were caught up in a "whirlwind of public attention".

Celebrities such as Keira Knightley, Will Smith, Ewan McGregor all proclaimed their support for the band, and Hans Zimmer asked them to sing on the soundtrack to The Da Vinci Code film sequel, Angels & Demons, after hearing their arrangement of his theme for Gladiator.

The "polished fusion" of classical and pop, as heard in arrangements of the Beach Boys' hit "God Only Knows", the themes to Gladiator, 1492: Conquest of Paradise and several classical favourites recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra proved a huge hit, and the album went Gold within three weeks.

The album again contains tracks from several genres, including opera, musical theatre, film themes and pop songs.

The album was recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra with arranger Paul Bateman, once again produced by Nick Patrick and Adrian Munsey.